Tag: W.A.S.P.

I had this album playing while I was flying X-Plane yesterday. I had thought that I might recognise some of the songs, but I did not. It could be that yesterday was the first time I actually played this album. W.A.S.P. are a comically larger than life band who sought out the controversy and I’m hoping to see them soon. But this album left me unfazed. Just go listen to Live . . . In The Raw.

This is communication number 1988 and it’s quite exciting writing and finding these little happenings each year as we enter a period of time when I was quite aware of the world and the goings on therein. I was sixteen in this year. ATC summer camp was at RAF Coningsby, I took my GCSEs, it was the very first year of those examinations.

• 3 members of the IRA are shot dead by SAS in Gibraltar.
• 167 die in the Piper Alpha oil platform explosion.
• 75 people are killed in an airshow accident at Ramstein.
• Total one million dead as Iran Iraq war ends.
• F-117 acknowledged as existing and first B-2 is revealed.
• Pan Am flight 103 is blown up over Scotland, the debris lands on town of Lockerbie.

As I wait for the hottest day of the year, so far there will be warmer I think, I ponder the human experience of enjoying music and sounds. How is it that certain sounds or combinations there of can affect us emotionally? How is it that I like the music I do and not anything else? I have very little brain-time for other forms of music and as much as I know they exist I care not. I think this should be left for another day, there’s music to discuss:

W.A.S.P. were one of those bands that always seemed scary and on the edge of what was acceptable. I felt that they pushed the boundaries of acceptability and purposely went out to shock. I’ve never seen W.A.S.P. live and I should have last October but – Covid – and I still want to see them. I thin it’d be great. Their music has a proper 80s L.A. feel to it. And it also has swear words. Plenty of swear words that offend the older generation. Songs like Animal, Mean Man, DB Blues these are all great if a little immature.

The Headless Children was the first studio album by W.A.S.P. that I bought. It’s also the best studio album by them. Clearly Live . . .In The Raw is the best album. The Headless Children was the result of what happens when you quit drugs but still write good songs. It’s an amazing album.

I can even cope with Forever Free which came on while I was in the car the other day and I didn’t skip it as I would with most ballads.

I had this album playing in the background yesterday to prepare for writing this communication. It was a W.A.S.P. album and that’s pretty much it. When I was younger W.A.S.P. were a bit of a shock band. They went out of their way to be controversial with their music and their antics. I suppose they were a bit like the Alice Cooper of the 80s but without the higher levels of fame. There are two albums by them that are stunning in my opinion and they are Live . . . In The Raw and Headless Children. I think when you are a stupid teenager this stuff seems edgy and amazing especially the songs: Mean Motherfucking Man, Animal [Fuck Like A Beast] and even D.B. Blues. Don’t get me wrong all of those are very good metal songs in their own right but are made better by shock value. In my current age it’s just rather hard to be shocked.

As for this album, I don’t remember what it was like. It’s W.A.S.P. sounding and therefore listenable.